How much will my mantis shrimp eat and what frozen food should I buy?

[wwarby]

So my new peacock mantis shrimp arrived today along with ten small feeder shrimp I bought for him to snack on, which were about 2cm (3/4 inch) long. I figured those would last him the first few days whilst I figured out my next move but almost as soon as I put him in the tank he went on the rampage and murdered all the feeder shrimp (there might be one or two hiding somewhere but I saw him eat most of them). They obviously aren't that big, but I was surprised at how quickly he got through them. So far he hasn't shown any murderous intent towards my two baby clownfish, but I'd like to keep it that way by giving him all the food he needs... so my question is, how much food is that? I've seen conflicting recommendations about how often to feed him so I'll probably need to experiment a little, but I haven't got much of a sense from my reading of the volume of food for a single meal. He's a pretty good size already - 6 inches I'd say.

I'll definitely get him live food when I can, but the rest of the time he's going to get what I can find in the supermarket - I know they're pretty unfussy but any recommendations for specific frozen foods would be appreciated.

Also when chasing down the shrimp he whacked the glass pretty hard a couple of times. Am I asking for trouble giving him small shrimp that tend to bob around near the tank edges or are a few whacks on the glass expected and nothing to worry about?

 

[Squidward]

You keep him with clowns? That's risky. I keep mine with a damsel. Bought another damsel but was eventually eaten. I barely feed mines. I'll throw in a half clam every 3 days or so. And throw in some sinking pellets the other days.

 

[wwarby]

You keep him with clowns? That's risky. I keep mine with a damsel. Bought another damsel but was eventually eaten. I barely feed mines. I'll throw in a half clam every 3 days or so. And throw in some sinking pellets the other days.

Yeah, I know it’s risky. I decided I needed at least one fish a few days before I got the mantis because it’s my first ever tank and I wanted to test that I’d set up my tank well enough for something to survive in there before I got the more expensive and much harder to come by mantis shrimp. Clowns were (a) the cheapest fish in the shop and (b) by far my favourite fish so it was a fairly easy choice. If he kills them I’ll have learned from the experience, if he doesn’t, I might experiment with other fish after a while.

Thanks for the feeding suggestion. They didn’t have clams at my local supermarket so I got prawns for now. I’ll look for some clams at the weekend.

 

[OneInchPunch]

Hi,

I feed Bruce every other day and alternate between a cockle (in shell) and small fish. I also feed the fish some mysis or brine shrimp every day and Bruce will come and grab some of those if he is hungry.

 

[wwarby]

Thanks so much @OneInchPunch - I'm also feeding my fish mysis shrimp and I noticed Oatmeal grabbing a few of those last night too (greedy bugger after he'd already eaten 10 bigger shrimp!) Probably a good thing actually - I've been giving my two clownfish a quarter piece of frozen mysis shrimp each evening (and flakes in the morning) but they only seem to take the smallest pieces - the bigger shrimp are too big for their mouths and just float around in the tank until presumably they disappear into the filter - perhaps Oatmeal will help clear up a few of those and avoid unnecessary bio load.

 

[nmotz]

Yeah ghost shrimp are more for fun, they don't last. My Peacock, Orion, goes on a similar rampage every time I get ghost shrimp. He'll tear the whole tank apart trying to get every last one!

I would try different kinds of snails, especially Trochus snails. Emerald crabs and other small pest crabs are great, but they also don't last long IME. I have also fed live brine shrimp and it's great fun watching them swim after the little guys. Just don't add too many as any leftovers will just bring your water quality down.

I drop a small frozen clam (about the size of my fingernail) into the tank nearly every day plus supplemental feedings of freeze dried krill about 3 times/week. About once a week I get him a good sized emerald (3-5cm across).

I recommend more numerous small feedings instead of infrequent large meals. IME they are a bit lethargic if you feed them very large pieces of frozen food.

 

[wwarby]

Yeah ghost shrimp are more for fun, they don't last. My Peacock, Orion, goes on a similar rampage every time I get ghost shrimp. He'll tear the whole tank apart trying to get every last one!

I would try different kinds of snails, especially Trochus snails. Emerald crabs and other small pest crabs are great, but they also don't last long IME. I have also fed live brine shrimp and it's great fun watching them swim after the little guys. Just don't add too many as any leftovers will just bring your water quality down.

I drop a small frozen clam (about the size of my fingernail) into the tank nearly every day plus supplemental feedings of freeze dried krill about 3 times/week. About once a week I get him a good sized emerald (3-5cm across).

I recommend more numerous small feedings instead of infrequent large meals. IME they are a bit lethargic if you feed them very large pieces of frozen food.

Thanks for that - I’ll definitely try smaller more frequent feeding. Oatmeal seems to take whatever I give her for food, but my water quality is terrible at the moment and that might be at least partially due to overfeeding so Oatmeal is on a diet for a few days until I get my levels under control.